An opportunity to comment on a life very full, with room for improvement, and little time to do it.

Monday, February 13, 2017

Strip Steaks with Blue Cheese Better

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, so at the grocery store on Saturday, I bought some nice strip steaks and fingerling potatoes to make a nice dinner for Mrs. BA (and LBA and SoBA, too). Life of course, intervened, and dinner last night didn't materialize. Given the boy's basketball practice schedules and I'm out at several meetings this week - we'll see about squeezing this in one night this week. From Fine Cooking.

New York Strip Steaks with Blue Cheese ButterThe stout flavor and aroma of blue cheese have always been a steakhouse staple as a salad dressing. But in recent years the blue cheese has moved from the iceberg to the red meat. This recipe gives you the basis for making compound butters, which are nothing more than butter blended with flavoring agents to add another dimension to your food. If you’re not a blue cheese fan, you can totally leave it out, or use rosemary, thyme, or an even stronger cheese if you desire.

For the blue cheese butter:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

4 oz. crumbled blue cheese, preferably Maytag or Point Reyes

1/4 tsp. granulated garlic

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper, or more to taste

For the steaks:

4 8- to 10-oz. New York strip steaks, 1 to 1-1/2 inches thick

Olive oil

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

To make the butter, blend the butter, blue cheese, garlic, and pepper together in a medium bowl. (A fork is a good tool for doing this. If you wish, you could use a hand mixer.) Pack the butter in a small container and refrigerate until needed. The butter can be made several days in advance and even frozen.

Allow the steaks to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before grilling. Brush olive oil over both sides of the steaks and season generously with salt and pepper.

Oil the grill racks. Preheat your grill using all burners set on high and with the lid closed for 10 to 12 minutes.

Place the steaks on the grill, close the lid, and cook for 4 to 5 minutes per side for medium-rare. Add a minute or two to each side for medium; subtract a minute or two from each side for rare. Remove from the grill and let rest for at least 5 minutes. Smear at least a tablespoon of the butter over each steak and serve.

Directions
Preheat oven to 500 degrees F and place a baking sheet inside to heat.

Add potatoes, rosemary, sage, thyme, and garlic to a medium bowl. Drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Remove sheet pan from oven, lightly coat with olive oil, and pour potatoes onto pan. Place potatoes in oven and reduce heat to 425 degrees F. Roast for 20 minutes, or until crispy on outside and tender on inside.